Abducted: How People Come to Believe They Were Kidnapped by Aliens - Susan Clancy

For anyone wondering:

The lecture itself is only ~30 mins long

It takes a very conversational style and is not at all dry or inaccessible to those who are unfamiliar with psychological research

It addresses experiences of memory, false/retrieved memory, sleep paralysis, and (briefly) culturally available reservoirs of meaning which can explain what feels like the inexplicable

It is very grounded in scientific skepticism and scientific methodology

It clearly outlines the scientific perspective on "alien abductions"

It is not at unsympathetic or derisive of people who claim to have been abducted

Overall this is a fascinating topic, it's very easy to listen to and walks the fine line of using interesting anecdotes and perspectives in order to navigate many aspects of the topic while keeping it light, entertaining, and engaging but at the same time the scientific perspective is also given plenty of space without making it heavy, dry, or excessively academic in tone.

This one gets a recommendation from me, especially if you are interested in abnormal psychology, memory, skepticism, or psychology in general.

Discuss...

If Barthes can forgive me, “What the public wants is the image of passion Justice, not passion Justice itself.”

Ya ...I think she thought she was being practical. Don't know and didn't look up her history (still haven't). I want to but haven't had time. I'm of the Bob Wilson school of not believing and believing at the same time, higher vs lower probability sets. She never one went into mind control or the like ...

If Barthes can forgive me, “What the public wants is the image of passion Justice, not passion Justice itself.”

Everyone knows what happened to Travis Walton, Betty and Barney Hill, the Allagash Four, 62 school children in Ruwa, Zimbabwe experienced, except them. The list goes on and on. Explain away that which troubles you.

Damn good question, but I haven't the access to 'Lexus-Nexus' any-more, or for a while, Id spend the time/energy to look it up; was kinda hoping p.Willow would school us as she seems very knowledgeable about these type things.. I might intermittently have access this week, so it may happens and Ill report what I find.

If Barthes can forgive me, “What the public wants is the image of passion Justice, not passion Justice itself.”

In January 2010, Perseus Books published her book The Trauma Myth,[6] in which she suggests that child sexual abuse is rarely a traumatic experience for the victims at the time it occurs, and is instead described by victims as confusing.[7] She argues that later in life, after the memories are processed, examined, and more fully understood, the experience becomes traumatic.

Clancy writes in “The Trauma Myth” that when she arrived at Harvard in 1996, the trauma theory held that “a child will only participate in abuse if forced, threatened, or explicitly coerced” (p. 41). Then she interviewed victims and learned, “They did not fight it. It was not done against their will. They went along... only 5% tried to stop it” (p. 41). Clancy concludes that since sexual abuse of children is not violent per se, the millions of victims who did not experience their sex abuse as traumatic grapple with crippling thoughts of shame, embarrassment, and self-blame, thus compounding their suffering. She advocates for a refined understanding of the immediate effects of child sex abuse in order to better help those who are excluded from a clinical and popular culture that embraces the trauma model.

It is a lot easier to fool people than show them how they have been fooled.

I caught most of that, listening while I was working/puttering and heard some good data points about Strieber etc. plus some interesting thoughts on the potential of MKULTRA (etc.), which has preoccupied me since last week when I saw Dr. Dan Brown talk about Sirhan, and particularly the idea of trauma-based programming of people to, in turn, program culture. I've never bought the "Beatles were created & songs written at Tavistock" notion, but I'm open to the idea that something like that has occurred.

The Sirhan revelations should remove all doubt about the operational reality of those programs. I'm looking anew at certain politicians, e.g., who I hadn't seriously considered as possible subjects.

"Frankly, I don't think it's a good idea but the sums proposed are enormous."

Great thread, thanks Grizzly. Thanks Elvis for the Dr. Dan Brown interview, I was aware of the many problems with the physical evidence but had no idea so much had been done from the other end. A revelation. Enjoying your interview guruilla (listening now) thanks.

Edit: guruilla, I can see I'm going to have to buy your book.

And while we spoke of many things, fools and kingsThis he said to me"The greatest thingYou'll ever learnIs just to loveAnd be lovedIn return"